Monsters of Old and New
by The Clever Weasel
Summary: Artemis has stumbled on a new creature that had managed to elude her for weeks; but is it the only one of its kind? And for that matter what is it? The gods must unravel a new mystery and defeat an old enemy, but who will help them fight the rising Titans and Primordial? Percabeth,Jiper, Frazel, and Neyna(?) later on. Post HoO.
1. The Creature

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PJatO of HoO, but I do love them both**

"Fire!" Artemis shouted to the four huntresses. The hunters released the arrows that carried a net between them and the net went arcing through the air. It fell perfectly on the black mass that had eluded them for weeks. The creature collapsed and was pinned to the ground by the net. It weakly thrashed in the net as it tried to free itself, only to become more entangled.

"We finally have you," said Artemis in her 12-year-old form as she walked up to the creature. Neither she nor any of her hunters had even gotten a good look at the creature. All they knew was that it was big, black, and fast. Artemis looked at the weakly moving creature and her eyebrows came together. It looked much like a wolf but it was too big, too shaggy, and too thin. She grasped one of the dozen arrows sticking out of its side. She wrenched the arrow out causing the creature to give a faint yelp. Artemis looked at the arrow and her eyes widened. There was flesh and blood clinging to the arrow-head.

'Monsters don't have blood,' Artemis thought to herself in shock. She looked back at the creature and saw that there was blood trickling down over its matted coat. "Apollo," she said under her breath, "get down here."

"What's up little sis!" he said appearing in his bright, flashing, and irritating glory. "What do you... need... your... great... brother... for?" He slowed down and his raised arms lowered as he caught sight of the creature under the net that had been surrounded by hunters. "Is that the thing that you have chased For over two months?" he asked taking a step back. Artemis nodded. "Well what do you want me to do with it?"

"Examine it," said Artemis. "It's like no other creature that I have encountered and," Artemis paused and held up the arrow she had pulled from the creature's side, "it's flesh and blood." Both Apollo and Artemis' hunters stared at the arrow with pure shock.

Apollo snatched the arrow from Artemis's hand and examined the tip before setting his hand on the creature's side and flashing to palace on Olympus.

"What now Milady?" Thalia asked.

"Now we wait and see what Apollo tells us," said Artemis sighing and staring into the sky. It was nearly one in the morning and the creature had given them one hell of a chase. They had found its tracks nearly seven weeks before and had been after the creature, but never quite caught up with it even though it was sick for a week giving them a window to catch up. At least until tonight night. A couple of times they had gotten close enough to shoot it, and hit it more often than not, but it always got up and bolted away. Then the next time they saw it, the arrows would be gone.

"We'll set up camp here until further notice," said Artemis to her weary hunters. The hunt had been incredibly demanding for them. The hunters nodded and pitched their tents and went to sleep.

* * *

Apollo appeared in his palace on Olympus and the creature moaned under his hand. Apollo saw that, while it wasn't staked to the ground, the creature was still entangled in the net. Apollo sighed and put his hands on his hips trying to think what to do. Artemis told him to examine the creature, but not what she was looking for. Apollo left the creature, went to the medical wing of his palace, and found a large x-ray machine. He snapped his fingers and teleported the creature, net and all, onto the large table below the x-ray machine. He slid x-ray boards underneath it causing it to give whines of pain. Apollo went to the control panel, after positioning the scanner, and pressed the button and moved the machine to get the next x-ray. When he had finished he had four boards that should give him the creature's entire skeleton.

After he had developed the x-rays he put them on a light board side by side and turned on the light. What he saw made his heart stop. Based on the creature's skeleton it was a wolf that was roughly four feet tall and seven feet long in its curled position, that was obvious, but that was also his second observation. His first was that the creature shouldn't have been alive. He saw dozens of arrow heads embedded within its skin and muscle. He also saw at least half of a knife blade stuck into the muscle of its right rear hip. Apollo put his hand to his mouth and rubbed his face. He then steeled himself, grabbed a knife, and went back to the wolf-creature.

When he got to it he saw that its breathing was shallow and he pitied it. He swallowed and started cutting off the net. When he had finished he saw the creature watching him. It's eyes were a grey-green and full of pain and fear. Apollo tentatively reached over and gently stroked its head. The creature tried to move away, but didn't seem to have the strength. Apollo felt its muscles tighten as he pet it, but then relax when the creature realized that Apollo wasn't going to hurt him. Apollo moved to pick the creature up but stopped when he realized that it injuries would cause it serious pain.

Apollo went to a medicine cabinet and pulled out an anesthetic shot and a painkiller. He offered a painkiller pill to the creature but realized it wasn't even strong enough to swallow. Apollo got water and a rubber tube and hoped that the creature wasn't just acting. He went to the creature's head, opened its jaws, and forced the tube past it sharp, massive teeth, down its throat, and into its stomach. The creature barely flinched. Apollo then slipped the painkiller pill into the tube and poured water down after it.

After twenty minutes of waiting for the painkiller to kick in, Apollo put the wolf under with an anesthetic shot in the scruff of its neck. A minute later the creature's eyes drifted shut and Apollo went into work mode. He pulled out a scalpel, a tray, a needle, and some thread and went back to the creature. He checked the x-ray, then cut an incision directly over an arrow-head. He pulled the arrow-head out, put it into a metal dish that was beside the table, and quickly stitched the incision back together. He did this for every arrow head, consulting the x-ray as to where they were located. After he had pushed another table closer turned the creature over onto it and removed the arrows heads from its other side he looked to its right rear hip. He walked over to the x-ray and stared at it for five minutes before going back to the creature. He made one last incision, reached in with a pair of tongs, and pull out the six-inch knife blade. He dropped the blade in the tray with the arrow heads, stitched up the incision, and sat down shaking slightly.

He had just removed forty-three arrow heads and six inches of a knife from a creature that was somehow still alive. He got a stethoscope and checked the creature's heart beat and lungs and found nothing out of the ordinary for a wolf of its size. The only thing wrong with the creature were its physical injuries and it appeared to be under severely weight. Apollo cleaned himself up and went back to staring at the x-ray. He had an idea and went to get an electric razor. He fitted the razor with a comb that would keep four inches of fur but removed the mats.

He clipped the creature's fur, carefully avoiding the stitches. He finished its body and tail, and moved to its head. He fitted a razor that would leave an inch of fur and delicately cleaned up around its eyes and nose and clipped the rest of its face. When he was done he swept the pounds of fur into a heap and burned it in the courtyard of his palace. He went to an empty spare room and a grabbed couple dozen cushions and pillows from couches around his palace and deposited them in the corner of the room. He got a couple of blankets, double layered the cushions, and threw the blankets over them to form something like a bed. He then went to get the creature.

He looked back over it and realized that it was indeed a massive wolf but its over-grown and matted fur, large size, and severe emaciation made it look more like a monster. It was all black but the mats and mud had hidden a grey stripe across its chest. Apollo gingerly picked it up off of the table and deposited it gently onto the blanket covered cushions. He then closed the door and went out in front of his palace before flashing down to Artemis' camp in Colorado where he'd left her.

When he flashed in the huntresses gave him dirty looks and Artemis came jogging over. Apollo had a serious gaze and wasn't cracking his usual jokes or claiming to be older. He stood stoically with his arms crossed and waited for Artemis. The hunters realized this and followed Artemis to her brother.

"What did you find out, Apollo?" Artemis asked. She was puzzled by her brother's mood, but was more than curious about the creature.

"I will answer your questions if you will answer mine," he said, his voice steely. Artemis was shocked by his serious tone. 'He has only been gone for seventeen hours, what could possibly make him so serious?' Artemis thought as she nodded.

"Why were you hunting the creature?" Apollo asked.

"For the thrill of the hunt and out of curiosity," said Artemis. "The creature seems unique and I wanted to know what it was."

Apollo rubbed the lower half of his face before looking back at Artemis. "Was there anything odd about the creature? Maybe odd things happened around it or the way it moved..."

"We would shoot it with arrows when we saw it and then it would disappear. Then the next time we'd see it, the arrows would be gone," said Phoebe.

"Yeah," piped another hunter. "I even managed to get a knife into its flank, and the knife disappeared too!"

"It did moved strangely," said Artemis thoughtfully. "It's back legs worked differently than any other animal or monster that I have encountered."

Apollo looked to be seething. His shoulders were back and his arms were crossed and Artemis could hear his teeth grinding together. "What did it eat?" he asked after a minute. Artemis could hear strain in his voice but said nothing of it.

"We don't know," she answered. "I assume whatever it could get its teeth into. Why? What did you find in its stomach?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Apollo.

"Apollo you aren't being funny. When you dissected the creature, what did you find in its stomach?" asked Artemis thinking that her brother was being a jerk.

"I didn't dissect the creature," he said, "I operated to save its life!" He was shouting now. "The reason I answered nothing was because that was exactly what was in its stomach!"

Artemis stepped back, surprised at her brother's outburst. Then thought about what he'd said, and stopped. "What do you mean 'operated'?" she asked. Her tone was quiet, but sounded threatening. Apollo snapped his fingers and a large Manila envelope appeared in his hand and he threw it to Artemis. Artemis caught it and opened it. She stepped away and into the sunlight and opened the envelope. She pulled out the picture of all four x-rays side-by-side giving her a clear picture of the creature. Artemis froze. She looked at Apollo, then back to the picture in her hand. "This is impossible," she breathed. Apollo nodded. Artemis dropped the envelope onto the grass below and stared at the photo. "How is it alive?"

"I have no idea," said Apollo.

The huntresses walked over to Artemis and saw the photograph. All of them blanched and two gagged.

"Is that the creature?" Phoebe had asked the question that all of the hunters wanted to know. Apollo nodded. The hunters continued to stare at the photograph. Artemis folded up the picture and put it into her hunting jacket.

"So it didn't remove the arrows," said one hunter.

"It broke off the shafts," another hunter finished.

"Will you take me to it?" she asked Apollo. Apollo nodded and they both flashed out leaving the hunters alone.

They appeared in front of Apollo's palace. Apollo led Artemis inside and to the spare room where the creature was sleeping. Artemis saw it and her knees buckled.

"It's a wolf," she murmured. The black wolf weakly lifted it head and blinked to clear its eyes. When it caught sight of Artemis and Apollo it scrambled up right before running past them and out the door. "Wait!" Artemis shouted, but the wolf didn't even slow. It bolted out of the palace after slipping a couple of times on the smooth floor, yelping as it fell on the stitches, and into Olympus, its exhaustion forgotten. It dashed around trees, bushes, buildings, satyrs, minor gods, and anything else in its way. It may have been severely injured and starving, but it was fast. Apollo and Artemis could barely keep up. Artemis saw Hermes running at her elbow.

"What is that?" he managed to heave out.

"No time!" panted Artemis. "We need to catch it! Get the other gods and we'll try to corner it!" Hermes nodded then split off. Apollo and Artemis continued following the zigzagging wolf. Soon they saw the other Olympians running at their sides, even Aphrodite, Persephone, Demeter, Hades, and Hestia, and a few minor gods as they dashed around Olympus. Soon the wolf made a wrong turn down a dead-end alley and was fenced in by the Olympians. The wolf turned to look at them and they saw that its tail was tucked so far underneath it that it was almost touching its belly. The wolf's ears were back, it eyes were huge, and its head was lowered as it cowered in the dead end. It stood about four and a half feet tall at the shoulders and its legs weren't anywhere near straight. Hestia stepped towards it and the wolf tried to take a step back, but bumped into the wall. Hestia kept slowly walking forward.

"Shh," she said to it softly. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." The wolf's claws were digging into the street below it as it kept trying to move back but be stopped by the wall. Hestia was no more than five feet away when the wolf lay down against the wall, claws digging into the street, and looked at her with terror in its eyes. Hestia sat down right next to the wolf and it wouldn't take its wide eyes off of her. She she reached out a hand to pet it, but it tried to cower away. All of the Olympians felt like they wanted to relax by the fire, but that appeared to be the last thing on the wolf's mind. Hestia touched its side and the wolf's eyes seemed to get larger. Hestia began gently stroking the wolf's side. The wolf was still breathing heavily and its eyes were still full of fear.

All of the Olympians watched and felt like their hearts were being broken. What could push a creature so far as to make it fear the goddess of the hearth? Hestia kept petting the wolf and felt is muscles tighten beneath her hand. She snapped her fingers which caused the wolf to jump and start shaking with terror. Hestia saw the cut of steak that she had summoned appear in front of the wolf, but she also felt the wolf's trembling start. She offered the steak to the wolf, but the wolf tried to move away from it but was stuck in a corner. Apollo sighed sorrowfully, summoned an anesthetic shot, and slowly approached to wolf. He saw it looking between him and Hestia in pure terror before Apollo gently grabbed its scruff and gave it the injection. A minute later the wolf's tremors stopped and its eyes drifted shut. Everyone watched as Apollo picked the wolf up and followed him as he carried it to his palace. Once Apollo had set the wolf down on the makeshift bed and closed the door of the room, the gods flashed to the throne room.

It was silent for a few minutes as everyone thought over what had transpired. Zeus looked to Apollo before asking, "What was that?"

"The creature that Artemis had been hunting," said Apollo without looking up.

"How did it get here on Olympus?!" Zeus roared.

"Father," Artemis said quickly, "my hunters and I had managed to catch it and I thought that it was as good as dead when I turned it over to Apollo to see what we could learn about it."

Apollo, without waiting for Zeus to ask, relayed the story, picking up at where Artemis had summoned him. The gods looked stunned as Apollo told the tale and Artemis looked sad and a bit guilty.

"And you know the rest," sighed Apollo resting his head on his hand and looking at Zeus.

"Why was it so afraid of us?" asked Hestia.

"Oh you know," said Apollo waving his hand about, "maybe because it was being hunted for two and a half months. You know I was reading an article about that the other day. It said that being hunted makes you fear for your life," said Apollo, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he glared at Artemis.

"Apollo," chided Athena. Apollo just huffed at her and rolled his eyes. "What has gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry," he said sighing and turning to Athena, "I'm just tired and frustrated." Athena nodded, accepting his apology. "The wolf is going to stay with me for the time being," he said then flashed out.

"Council dismissed," said Zeus grumbling to himself before flashing out, quickly followed by all of the other Olympians, including Hestia, but not Artemis. Artemis stayed for a minute longer deep in thought before flashing back to her hunters' camp.

Apollo had flashed back to his palace and was about to enter when Hestia flashed in behind him. Apollo looked at her then nodded and led her to the spare roof where the wolf was. Apollo cracked to door open and saw that the wolf was still in its drug-induced sleep and walked in with Hestia in her eight year old form behind him. Hestia sat down beside the wolf and began stroking its head and Apollo summoned his bow before flashing out. Hestia looked at the wolf and saw the dozens of incisions on its side where Apollo had removed the arrow heads and chunk of a knife.

She felt hot tears tracing her cheeks and quickly wiped them away. She sat with the wolf for nearly fifteen hours before Apollo flashed with a deer over each shoulder. He nodded to Hestia before he left the room. He came back half an hour later.

"How is he?" the sun god asked.

"The same," said Hestia. "But really, what could drive an animal to survive such a thing as this?"

"I have no idea," said Apollo. "But whatever it is, it's important." Hestia nodded. "He should be waking up soon," said Apollo standing up. "I'm going to go finish getting his meal together."

Apollo left the room and Hestia kept stroking the wolf's side. Now that the mats were gone his fur was soft, softer than Hestia expected. She was petting the top of his head when she felt him move. She kept calm and went on petting him. He quickly realized that Hestia was petting him and his ears went back, his eyes went wide, and his muscles tensed. He was in full on fight-or-flight mode. Hestia just kept petting him and started humming. After a minute his muscles started to relax and he eventually put his head on his paws. Then, to Hestia's immense surprise, he seemed to snuggle closer to her. She could feel his back steadily rising and falling beneath her hand as he fell into a natural sleep. She kept humming and a small smile crept onto her face.

Apollo opened the door and the wolf's head bolted up right and he looked at Apollo with his ears back and his eyes wide and seemed to cower behind Hestia.

"It's alright," Hestia cooed. "It's okay," she said petting his head. "See, he brought you food."

Apollo took a strip of raw venison off the tray he was holding and handed it to Hestia then sat down with a clipboard and set the tray beside himself. The wolf smelled the meat Hestia was holding before gingerly taking it in his jaws. Once it was out of Hestia's hand the wolf threw back its head and swallowed the strip of venison with a snap of its jaws. He then looked past Hestia to Apollo and licked his lips and started staring at the tray. Apollo kept handing Hestia venison and the wolf kept snapping it down. Apollo filled the tray twice more before giving up and hauling both deer into the room. Apollo set the deer on the far side of the room and went to sit beside Hestia on the pile of cushions and blankets. The wolf licked it chops and stared hungrily at the carcasses.

"Go for it," said Apollo motioning to the deer. The wolf looked at him and tilted its head to the side looking both adorable and confused. "You can eat them," said Apollo pointing with his pencil. The wolf then stood up and loped over to the deer, but kept his back right leg off of the ground. It sniffed the first deer that was almost gone, then laid down beside it. He stuck his jaws in and got started. Fifteen minutes later all that was left was the fur and antlers. The wolf had eaten the bones and all. It then turned its attention to the other deer and turned itself so that it was facing the other deer. It stuck its snout into the long cut that Apollo had used to clean the deer.

After an hour, a lot of crunching and some tearing the wolf rolled over on its side, its stomach looking like it was going to explode. All that was left of the doe and buck Apollo had brought down were a couple of piles of fur and skin and a couple of antlers. But then the wolf set a paw on an antler and pulled it over and began chewing on it. Apollo and Hestia had watched with morbid fascination as the wolf crunched its way through the two deer.

"Remind me never to stick my hand near its mouth when its hungry," said Apollo to Hestia.

"Likewise," she replied.

They watched to wolf chew on the antlers for a bit until it got bored. It then stood up, still not putting any weight on it rear right leg and looked around then started panting.

"Oh right!" said Apollo jumping up and dashing from the room, but being sure to close the door behind himself. He came back a few minutes later and kicked the door so Hestia got up and helped him in. The wolf stood there panting and watching them. Apollo set the massive bowl of water on the floor near the piles of fur. The wolf then walked over and gulped down nearly the entire thing. Then it started looking around again. He started shaking and his back came down and his hind legs came together.

"Hey Apollo," said Hestia.

"Yeah."

"Just how much value do you place on your floors remaining clean?"

"A lot, why?"

"You should let him outside," said Hestia with a small smile.

"Oh!" Apollo jumped up and grabbed the door. "Okay, come on," he said ushering to wolf out of the medical wing and into the courtyard. The black wolf smelled around a bit before lifting its leg over a bush. It came back a couple of minutes later tongue lolled out, ears up, eyes bright.

"It's amazing what a good meal and some kindness can do," said Hestia.

"Oh yeah," sighed Apollo. The wolf closed its mouth and sat in front of Apollo. "What?" Apollo asked.

In response the wolf got up and trotted away, leg still held off the ground. It walked up to a tree and grabbed a small, low branch in its teeth. It then twisted its head to the side and ripped the six inch thick branch right off of the tree. It laid down with it and stripped the leaves and small twigs off of it leaving a clean stick at its feet. The wolf picked the branch up and walked back to Apollo, then dropped the branch in front of Apollo and sat down. Apollo picked up the branch and saw the wolf's tail wagging in the grass. Apollo drew his arm back and threw the stick to the other side of the courtyard. The wolf gave a bark of excitement then took off after the branch, this time using his right rear leg slightly giving him a very pronounced limp. But at least he was trying to use the leg.

"You know," said Apollo as the wolf picked up the stick, "he seems kind of intelligent."

"You don't say," said a mystified Hestia as the wolf brought the stick back.

The three of them played for an hour before the wolf got tired and lay down in the sun panting. Apollo and Hestia had taken turns throwing the stick and the wolf would always go get it and return it. Apollo saw the wolf's eyes drooping shut and the sun going down.

"Alright, come here boy," he said clapping his hands. The wolf was suddenly on its feet with wide eyes and its tail between its legs as it cowered in the courtyard. "Sorry," Apollo said quietly. "Come on, let's go inside," he said gently.

The wolf's tail came out and its ears went up, but it still wasn't quite standing at its full height. Apollo led it back to the spared room and the wolf got a drink before curling up on the pile of cushions. It gave a huge yawn with its teeth flashing in the dying light and went to sleep.

Hestia and Apollo crept out of the room and closed the door. They shared a smile before Hestia flashed to her palace and Apollo went to rest after a long day and _very_ eventful day.

* * *

**A.N.**

**I will try to update at least once a week, but we'll see how that goes!  
**

**R&R is much appreciated!**


	2. Appetite

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PJatO of HoO, but I do love them both**

Hestia came early the next morning with a large basket in the crook of her elbow. She knocked lightly on the door knowing that since the sun was up so was Apollo, but that didn't mean that the wolf was up yet and didn't want to wake him. Apollo opened the door and invited Hestia in. He was in a pair of jeans and a bright yellow v-neck t-shirt. Together they went to the wolf's room and quietly opened the door.

The wolf was still asleep and it was taking long deep breaths, its sides rising and falling peacefully. Apollo tiptoed in and grabbed the empty water dish, refilled it, and gently deposited it in the same spot. The metal clicked a bit when it hit the wooden floor and in an instant the wolf's head was up, eyes wide, and ears pointed right at Apollo. He then gave a great yawn, a small stretch, and looked at Apollo and Hestia. He looked a bit unhappy about being woken up but just stared at them. The two gods left the room and the wolf followed them out making slight use out of his right rear leg. Apollo then opened his palace to the courtyard for the wolf to come and go as he pleased and went into the kitchen. He took a bite of some ambrosia and the wolf watched him carefully.

"Not wolf food," Apollo said sternly. The wolf tilted it head in its cute and confused way and kept watching Apollo eat. Apollo started feeling self-conscious and eventually stuffed the entire thing into his mouth to be done with it. The wolf looked to be cracking a grin as Hestia, who was also smiling, began rubbing the top of his head. The doorbell then rang causing the wolf to jump then dash off to some other part of the palace. Hestia watched it run off then looked at Apollo who simply sighed and walked to the door.

Apollo brushed some ambrosia crumbs off of his shirt then opened the door. Standing before him was none other than Artemis, who looked very awkward. She looked at Apollo with guilt in her eyes and he stepped aside and allowed her in. Apollo closed the door and led Artemis to the kitchen. The entire time Artemis was looking around, most-likely trying to spot the wolf. When the twins got to the kitchen they saw Hestia, who gave Artemis a nod which she returned.

There was an awkward silence before Apollo broke it with the obvious question. "So what brings you here?"

Artemis looked even more awkward before replying. "I wanted to see if there was anything that I could do to help."

Apollo and Hestia exchanged a glance before answering her. "Have your hunters caught any deer recently?" asked Hestia.

"Just this morning," Artemis replied.

"Good," said Apollo. "We need the bones."

"Okay, why?" Artemis asked.

"You'll see," said Hestia, "but get the bones first."

Artemis nodded before flashing away. She returned five minutes later with three complete deer skeletons in a pile at her feet.

"Okay now what?" she asked.

"Come sit behind the bones and watch quietly," said Apollo. Once Artemis was behind the bones, Apollo took off into his palace. Artemis gave Hestia a confused look but Hestia only smiled in return. Apollo came back a few minutes later and, by the sound claws clicking against the floor, he had the wolf following him. He stopped right before entering the kitchen area. "Okay," he said to the wolf, "Artemis is in there, but don't worry, she brought you a present." Apollo then stepped aside and the wolf peeked around the corner. He saw the bones, but she also saw Artemis sitting behind them. He gave a yelp and his head vanished from sight. Artemis sat with a hunter's patience.

Apollo walked out of sight again but Artemis could hear him trying to convince the wolf to come out. He eventually succeeded and stepped out of the way. The wolf slowly walked forward, cowering and eyeing Artemis warily. He was crouched so that he only stood four and a half feet tall. He stopped in front of the pile of bones and lay down, never taking his eyes from Artemis. But as the three gods watched, the wolf somewhat unwillingly took his eyes from Artemis and looked at the bones in front of him. He picked a rib out of the pile, crunched it up a couple of times before swallowing. He began working his way through the pile with Artemis watching. While the wolf was eating Apollo, took out another square of ambrosia, assuming that now while the wolf was preoccupied and that he could eat in peace. But as soon as he took his first bite the wolf's head popped up and he started watching again with a bit of a femur sticking out of his mouth.

"Don't you have something better to do?" Apollo asked with his arms spread.

The wolf snapped down the rest of the femur and look at Apollo in his cute way that said 'I have no idea what you are talking about.' Apollo huffed, put the half-finished ambrosia down on the counter, and grabbed the remote for the tv. In a flash the wolf had reached over and snapped up the ambrosia.

"No!" Artemis shouted. The wolf's eyes went wide and his ears went back before he dashed off out of sight and into the palace. He was actually using his rear leg, but not putting his full weight on it.

"We need to find him before the ambrosia burns him up," said Apollo. The two goddesses nodded and all three took off in different directions. Three minutes later Artemis found him in the back corner of the palace cowering. Artemis walked slowly towards the wolf and he cowered more. His tail was touching his belly, his ears were flat back, and his eyes were wide. He watched Artemis walk forward and he sank lower to the floor until he was laying down. Artemis saw him cowering and was forced to remember that she had done this to him. A tear escaped her eye and the wolf seem to further shrink away from her. She tentatively reached out a hand and began stroking the wolf's side. She felt his muscles tighten as he tried to shrink away and further into the corner.

"It's alright," Artemis whispered to him. "I'm not going to hurt you. It's alright, it's alright." The ambrosia forgotten, Artemis tried to comfort the terrified creature. Hestia went racing past the door a few minutes later, then skidded to a stop and came to stand outside the door. Artemis looked at Hestia. Hestia gave her a nod then walked back through the palace to find Apollo and tell him that the wolf was okay. Artemis could feel its muscles still tense under its skin as it prepared to run the second it had an opening. Artemis moved to allow the opening to see what he would do. The wolf was up and gone in a second. She could hear his claws clicking against the wood floor. She got up and returned to the kitchen.

When she saw Apollo and Hestia sitting there watching the wolf chowing down on the bones Artemis said, "It appears that he can eat ambrosia and live."

"I thought that only the gods and their descendants could eat ambrosia," said Apollo.

"That's true," said Hestia. "But it looks like we have an exception on our hands. "But if he can eat bones and ambrosia, what can't he eat?"

The three of them looked at the wolf who was contentedly chewing on a skull before cracking it into pieces. All three sat down in the living room, making up a list of things he possibly couldn't eat. The wolf lay in the kitchen crunching on the pile of bones. It watched images flash across Hephaestus tv in the background of the conversation but took no interest in any of them or the conversation itself.

The three Olympians finally couldn't think of anything else after about an hour of conversation only to find an empty kitchen and the tv still droning on in the background. The bones were gone, but so was the wolf. The three of them went to find the wolf. Apollo looked in the courtyard and saw that wolf asleep in the sunlight and pointed him out to the two goddesses. The goddesses smiled and turned back to the kitchen. Ten minutes later the doorbell rang and the wolf dashed from the courtyard to stand behind Hestia and Apollo. The two of them looked curiously at the wolf before the wolf nudged Apollo toward the front door and gave a small bark.

Apollo took the hint and went to answer the door. The wolf moved out from behind Hestia and followed Apollo through the palace. Apollo looked back and smiled at the wolf before opening the door. Hermes looked up at the pair with curiosity.

"Uh...hi," Hermes said with a slight wave of his hand. He was in his usual track suit with his cell phone in his pocket. The wolf stepped past Apollo and went right up to Hermes. He wolf stood at about five feet tall, but was still very low to the ground and ready to run. The wolf smelled on of Hermes' pocket and then looked Hermes in the eye then back at the pocket. Hermes reached into his pocket and held a small piece of ambrosia. The wolf's tongue flicked out as it snapped up the morsel. Hermes looked shocked. He tried to wedge the wolf's jaws apart to get the ambrosia back, but the wolf's jaws seemed to be locked shut. Hermes looked up at Apollo in a panic but Apollo just smiled and motioned for Hermes to come inside after ushering the wolf in.

"We learned that the wolf can eat ambrosia," Hestia said after Hermes had started rambling about the wolf having eaten the godly food. Said wolf was now sitting beside Hestia and getting his head rubbed.

"Ah," he said looking at the wolf who looked up and licked his lips and looking at Hermes as though hoping for another snack. Hermes then caught sight of the large basket that Hestia had brought with her that morning. "Whatcha got in the basket Aunt Hestia?"

"Oh yeah!" said Apollo whirling around. "What's in there?"

"Well," said Hestia lifting the lid off of the basket causing a delicious aroma to come wafting out. "I brought snacks for our wolf friend here."

The wolf licked its lips before sitting down bolt upright next to Hestia, finally showing off his true height. His was about six feet tall at the shoulders and about eight feet tall at the tips of his ears that were straight up. He licked his lips and scooted closer to Hestia and trying to stick his massive snout in the basket. Hestia playfully pushed his massive head aside before sitting down on a stool beside the basket.

She first pulled out a small loaf of bread and handed it to the wolf. It gingerly took the warm bread from her before snapping it down its gullet. Apollo pulled out a notebook and pencil to keep his observations and Hermes started keeping a list of what the wolf was eating on his phone. Hestia pulled a pork chop out of the basket and handed it to the wolf. He swallowed that too. Hestia handed the wolf nearly everything that could be found at grocery store from ice cream to canned beans to a whole rotisserie chicken to fruit and vegetables before shaking her head and saying that was enough for now. But Apollo went to a cupboard and pulled out a bag of chips for himself. The wolf perked up, raced across the kitchen, snatched the bag, and swallowed it whole. Apollo stared at his empty hands then back at the wolf who was licking its lips. The wolf then trotted out into the courtyard and relieved itself on the same bush as that day before then put its nose to the ground and wandered around the courtyard.

"I'm glad we're at you palace and not mine," Artemis said to Apollo as they watched the wolf.

"Why?" asked Apollo. Artemis nodded to the wolf who was making a very large deposit in the back corner of Apollo's courtyard. Apollo looked appalled but then seemed to change his mind before grabbing a large plastic bag. After the wolf had finished making his deposit, Apollo picked up its feces, held the bag shut, then went to the medical wing of his palace. He returned an hour later to find Artemis and Hestia watching Hephaestus TV, Hermes on his phone answering messages, and the wolf asleep in the courtyard.

"Where'd you go?" asked Hermes when he saw Apollo.

"To see what it's droppings looked like," he said motioning to the wolf. "The smell was rather surprising though. I had expected it to smell awful, but it had no smell at all. Other than that its feces were the same as I would expect of any other wolf."

"Well remember," said Hestia with a smile, "all he had yesterday was a couple of deer. Today he ate everything."

"Oh yeah," said Apollo rubbing his chin. "Tomorrow will be interesting."

"What do you mean 'a couple of deer'?" asked Hermes. Artemis seemed puzzled by this as well.

"Two deer," said Apollo. "Bones and all."

"Bones," Hermes said.

"Yup," said Hestia. "Apollo tried feeding our friend here a bit at a time, only to run out, twice. So he dragged the deer in and at the end all that was left was a pile of skin, fur, and a couple of very gnawed-on on antlers."

"I see," said Hermes. His pocket then vibrated and Hermes pulled out his phone. "Zeus just called the council together. And apparently its about him," Hermes said nodding to the wolf sleeping in the courtyard.

Hestia summoned a square of ambrosia and walked out to the wolf. She waved it around in front of his nose and the wolf started snapping his jaws in his sleep as he tried to get the ambrosia until one large snap woke him up. He looked at Hestia who handed him the ambrosia. He gulped it down then smelled her hand.

"Come on," she said patting her thigh and walking out of the courtyard, "there's more where that came from." The wolf rolled over and stretched. It then followed the four Olympians out of Apollo's palace. The wolf followed the group to the throne rom but stopped outside the doors.

"I'll join you inside in a moment," said Hestia.

The other three nodded and walked into the throne room. Hestia waited until everyone is seated before turning to the wolf.

"Stay here," she said. The wolf sat down and nudged her forward. Hestia smiled and entered the throne room leaving the door slightly ajar. She saw Zeus open his mouth to speak and she held up her hand. She sat down at the hearth and tended the fire for a the fire for a moment before speaking to the council.

"The wolf will be frightened by any sudden or loud noises," she said in a normal voice. "So no shouting," she said when Zeus opened his mouth. She put a finger to her lips then pulled out a piece of ambrosia. Most of the Olympians looked confused, while Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes smiled. Everyone saw a black snout poke into the throne room, nose wiggling. A head and shoulders soon followed and Hestia held the ambrosia out to the apprehensive wolf. He slid into the throne room using his back legs equally. He looked between the Olympians before walking straight to Hestia. His tail was tucked, ears back, and eyes wide. He only stood four and a half feet tall at the shoulders. He crept over to Hestia and gingerly took the ambrosia before laying down beside her and swallowing it. The gods and goddesses who hadn't seen the wolf eat ambrosia looked surprised. Hestia began rubbing the wolf's head and he lay down beside her and closed his eyes.

"So what now Zeus?" Hestia asked looking away from the wolf.

Zeus tore his gaze away from the wolf and looked at his sister. Zeus quietly answered, "Now we must decide what to do with the..."

"Wolf," Apollo said just as quietly.

"Wolf," said Zeus. "Is he fit for travel?"

"I have no idea," Apollo replied. "He eats anything we put in front of him and over the course of today has regained the use of his rear leg, but I'm not sure how much mobility or if there's any permanent damage. He's also still extremely underweight."

"The better question is: Where will he go?" said Hestia. "He is so timorous I don't know if he can even hunt for himself. What he has eaten was already dead."

"That's true," said Apollo.

"What does he eat?" asked Hades.

"Anything," Apollo answered.

"Care to elaborate?" Hades continued.

"Venison, pork chops, bread, steak, fruit, vegetables, ice cream, ambrosia, bones, he ate a stick earlier today too," said Hermes.

"When'dhe eat the stick?" asked Apollo.

"While you were digging around in his poop," Hermes smiled.

"Did you say bones?" asked Hades. Apollo nodded. "Wolf," Hades said a bit louder than the rest. The wolf's head came up as he regarded Hades. "Would you like a snack?" At this point the wolf's ears came forward too. Hades snapped his fingers but the wolf was too busy watching bones rise out of the ground to notice the sound. The bones assembled themselves into the shape of a deer. The bone deer shook itself and stomped a hoof. The wolf immediately stood up. The bone deer seemed to figure out that the wolf was there and so it ran. The wolf bounded after it. They raced around the throne room for only a handful of seconds before the wolf lunged and landed on the bone deer, shattering it. The wolf stood up and nudged all the bones into a pile before sitting down and picking out a rib to start with. There was a loud crunching as the wolf ate its snack.

The Olympians who had never seen the wolf eat watched in fascination while those who had seen the spectacle watched the other gods' and goddesses' reactions and were still bit surprised at the wolf's speed. Most were shocked at first, then watched in fascination. Apollo even saw Athena write a few things in a notebook. The wolf quickly finished and then went to lay back down by Hestia. He laid his head down and went to sleep.

"O...kay... then," said Zeus, surprisingly his voice was still quiet. "How much longer until he is back near full health?"

"Like I said, I have no idea," said Apollo. "Yesterday he didn't even use his right rear leg after I removed the six inches of a knife blade and now he uses all four legs equally. The main problem right now is how severely underweight he is. He is a wolf, just... bigger. It will take a little while for him to put the weight back on unless Hestia keeps feeding him." When the gods looked puzzled Apollo explained about the wolf's earlier meal.

"And he still ate the entire deer skeleton," said Poseidon. "He seems to have an insatiable appetite."

"I think that he eats whatever he can whenever he can because he hasn't had a decent meal until recently," said Hestia. "Like Apollo said, being hunted makes you fear for your life, but it also makes you hungry."

A few gods chuckled while several others just smiled. Some were still stuck on the fact that the wolf had eaten a whole deer skeleton. The wolf looked up and licked her hand before going back to sleep. Hestia smiled and kept rubbing his head.

"Very well," said Zeus, "until the wolf is healthy he will stay with either Apollo or Hestia. When he is healthy he will join the hunt in order to become re-acclimated to the wild."

Artemis looked surprised then nodded. The wolf's head shot up and he gave a nervous looked at Artemis before turning to Zeus. He gave a weak bark and put his ears back slightly before looking back at Artemis, then back to Zeus. Zeus then looked to Artemis for a translation.

"He wants to know if he has to come with me father," said Artemis.

"Why would he not want to, your sacred animal is the wolf."

The wolf looked at Zeus with what could be a glare and his ears went a bit farther back than before. He didn't look scared or angry; he looked indignant.

"What?" asked Zeus spreading his hands, utterly confused.

"You forget that they were the ones that hunted him," said Hestia rubbing the wolf's back causing him to look at her endearingly.

"That is why I am putting him with them; its a chance for the hunters to apologize," said Zeus. "And so that when he leaves he doesn't hunt them for retribution."

The wolf glared at Artemis then nodded his acceptance to Zeus. Artemis nodded too, even if she was nervous. Zeus dismissed the council and Apollo and Hestia led the the wolf back to Apollo's palace. Apollo then led Hestia and the wolf to the medical wing of his palace. The wolf sat down next to an exam table and Apollo pulled back the fur to show that the incisions where the stitches were made had already sealed up with only a small scar remaining. The ambrosia may have helped, but even before that the wolf was healing quickly. Apollo then removed all the stitches which was a long process. The wolf ended up laying down and sleeping through most of it, only waking up halfway through when Apollo needed him to roll over so that he could reach the other side. When the process was done Hestia took out a piece of ambrosia. The wolf immediately sat up and looked at Hestia. Hestia tossed it in the air and the wolf caught it.

Hestia pulled out another piece and led the wolf to the courtyard. Along the way he had managed to snag the piece, causing Hestia laughed and summoned another one. Once they got the courtyard the wolf started barking and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. His ears were up and his eyes excited.

"Sit," Hestia said pulling the ambrosia toward herself. The wolf immediately sat bolt up right. Apollo, who was sitting in the grass behind Hestia, laughed as the wolf towered over Hestia's eight year old form. Hestia tossed the ambrosia to the wolf and summoned another.

"Shake," she said holding out he hand. The wolf gently set his massive paw on Hestia's arm, careful to keep his long claws away from her. Hestia tossed the ambrosia up to him. They went through the same routine with lie down, roll over, stay, play dead, and even go get Hermes. As soon as Hestia gave the last command the wolf looked around Hestia to where the door was.

He dashed out of the door and they heard him leave the sun palace. The pair sat and chatted for a bit. Mostly about what the wolf would bring back. Apollo thought that the wolf would bring back a statue. Of the messenger god. Hestia thought that the wolf would run for a bit and chase Hermes if he saw him, but return when he got hungry. They also chatted about various other things such as life on Olympus and how the demigods were faring. They were jarred from their conversation when they heard a crash inside the palace after about half an hour. They stood up and heard a strange whining sound followed by several choice swears in Greek and a few in English.

"I don't believe it," Apollo said as the wolf came prancing into the courtyard. He had a very pissed off looking Hermes between his jaws. The wolf wasn't biting hard enough to hurt the god, but was firm enough not to let him escape. The wolf came and sat in front of Hestia. Hermes swung his head around and gave her a strange smile.

"Hi Hestia," he said in a wheedling voice, "what are you doing here? And why in Hades did the wolf kidnap me?! I was minding my own business after having a lull in messages to deliver, so I just thought that I'd check out one of the newer gardens here on Olympus when the wolf comes bounding out of no where, jumps me, and carries he here!" he shouted but the wolf didn't seem to notice. Hermes crossed his arms so that they were dangling in front of him and glared at Hestia until he heard Apollo snap a picture. "I swear, Apollo, if I see that anywhere they will never find your body!"

Hestia started chuckling before it turned into full-blown laughter. Apollo broke down shortly after. The wolf tilted its head to the side in confusion causing Hermes' phone to fall out of his pocket. This only caused Apollo and Hestia to laugh all the louder, especially when Hermes tried to grab it, but couldn't reach it. Hermes crossed his arms as best he could and just glared at the other two. The wolf just sat patiently as he waited for his treat.

Once Hestia had collected herself she summoned a piece of ambrosia. "Drop him," she said. The wolf's jaws dropped open causing the messenger god to fall face first into the grass of the courtyard. Apollo in turn burst into another fit of hysterics and Hestia only laughed quietly. "Sorry Hermes," she said as the messenger god straightened his track suit after getting to his feet. "We thought he'd bring back a statue or give up. We never thought he'd actually catch you."

Hermes huffed and looked at the wolf muttering about how fast he was. He then stopped and got a very mischievous look slid onto his face. "Go dig a big hole in the courtyard of my palace, drag the hose and fill the pit with water and find my water guns, and hurry." The wolf tilted his head. Hermes sighed and pulled out some ambrosia before repeating the command. The wolf rushed out of the palace leaving the three alone. Hermes, who had his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face, was standing beside Hestia who wore a small smile. They watched as Apollo rolled around in the grass as he was laughing and talking about how ridiculous Hermes looked in the wolf's mouth. The wolf returned only five minutes later with a wolf's smile on his face. Hermes thought that if any wolf could look like a trouble maker, this one did.

"Is it done?" he asked. The wolf nodded and looked at the ambrosia in Hermes' hand. Hermes handed it and three more to the wolf before giving it one last command and flashing to his palace with Hestia. The wolf looked at the sun-god who was still in hysterics before spreading his jaws. As soon as Apollo saw the wolf's mouth getting close to him, he calmed down and sat up.

"What are you doing?" he asked. The wolf slowly stalked forward. Apollo summoned a piece of ambrosia. "Stop," he commanded. The wolf ignored him and took another step forward. Apollo got up and tried to run but found himself between two massive jaws. Apollo was about to reach out and try to pry its jaws open, but was suddenly flung around like a rag doll as the wolf shook its head around. He felt his eyes rolled around in their sockets and he would later swear that he could feel his brain sloshing around. He regained most of his senses after a second, but felt like he was flying. He looked around and saw spinning images of the wolf running across the palace roof before it jumped and landed on the grass below. He watched at Olympus went flying by. He saw Hermes's palace drawing nearer and struggled to get free, only to feel the wolf's grip around his waist tighten. He struggled and watched as the wolf leapt onto the roof of Hermes's palace and trotted around until he found the opening to the courtyard. He was then promptly tossed into the mud pit that the wolf had made and disappeared from view. The wolf sat down and stared into the pit.

"I didn't think it was that deep," Hermes muttered and Hestia's face changed from one of happiness to one of concern. Apollo came up sputtering and splashing in the watery mud hole. He flung mud at Hermes, but the messenger god just stepped to the side and raised the hose which was still on. "I kinda like this wolf," Hermes said as he squeezed the nozzle. "You have some mud on your face!" Hermes shouted at the spluttering sun-god. Apollo tired blocking the water with his hands but found that he was slowly sinking again. Hestia started laughing and quietly called Hephaestus and that he should bring a camera.

The god of forges appeared a moment later with a camera and when he saw what was going on started recording. Hermes would spray Apollo and Apollo would try to defend himself only to sink back into the mud. Hestia and Hermes laughed the entire time and Hephaestus had to summon a tripod so that he could laugh without shaking the camera. The wolf disappeared inside Hermes' palace for a few minutes before reappearing with several bags of water balloons. Hephaestus smiled and found another hose. He filled up all of the massive water balloons and put them into a bin that he summoned. Then, while Hermes was dousing the irate sun-god, Hephaestus began lobbing the balloons which would burst when the hit Apollo causing a bucket's worth of water to suddenly come crashing down onto the sun-god.

Hestia turned to the wolf and waved her hand in front of her neck giving him a 'That's enough' signal. The wolf understood and stomped on the rest of the water balloons, much to Hephaestus's displeasure, and sat on the hose that Hermes was spraying Apollo with causing a block to occur. The messenger god turned the hose towards himself to see what was going on and got a face full of water when the wolf suddenly stood up. Hermes stood spluttering for a minute before turning the hose back on Apollo. The wolf resumed its previous position, stopping the water. Hermes again looked confused, but this time investigated the nozzle while it was pointed away from his face. When he saw the wolf he whistled and motioned for him to get off but the wolf only tilted his head and gave a wolfish grin before looking a Hestia.

"All done," the goddess of the hearth said. Hermes looked disappointed but turned off the water. Hephaestus merely grabbed his camera and tripod before he flashed back to wherever he had been before. Apollo meanwhile was having difficulty hauling himself out of the mud pit. The wolf went to his aid and reached over before gingerly picking the mud-soaked sun-god up by the back of his shirt and setting him on the grass where Apollo then laid panting. Hermes looked like he was going to turn the hose back on but Hestia gave him a quick look that convinced him to change his mind.

Apollo stood up after he caught his breath. "That sucked," he said. He then turned to Hermes with a smile that said messenger god didn't like the look of. "It is so on. And you are going to help me," he said to the wolf. And with that the mud-caked sun-god flashed out in as much blinding glory as could get past the mud.

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**A.N.**

**So it's going to take a while for the action to really pick up but bear with me. The beginning is just to establish characters, situations, time, relationships, and the like. The story just doesn't work as well if all that is blown past.**

**I'm going to try to update once a week or so, most-likely on Sunday but we'll see!**


	3. Shenanigans

**This is sort of a filler chapter, but it is the longest chapter yet, so..yeah. Hopefully this chapter will make you laugh. Some clods will seem OOC, but it's my fic so deal with it. To those wondering where the demigods are, wait and see. The chapter after this should help out a bit. But no spoilers! On with the story!**

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After the mud-soaking of Apollo, Hermes and Apollo had increasingly elaborate pranks that involved either the wolf going to get the other for a prank or being involved in some other way, shape, or form. Once they had even tried to prank Hestia, but somehow she found out and teleported the two troublemakers to Hades saying that they had volunteered to bathe Cerberus. They ended up bathing the massive hound, but only just escaping unscathed, though both were thoroughly soaked and smelled like wet dog. They later found out that the wolf had somehow told Hestia what their plan was. The two gods tried going around the wolf to prank Hestia, but the wolf always found out and the two trouble makers kept getting teleported to different places where they spent hours being absolutely miserable before they could leave. In Hermes' and Apollo's opinions, worst was either trying to bathe Cerberus or getting a nine and a half hour lecture on the finer points of architecture from Athena after Hestia told her that the troublesome two had shown an interest in designing a new palace. Moral of the story: they quit trying to prank Hestia.

The wolf often went on rides in the sun chariot with Apollo. Occasionally they would stop for Apollo to get coffee and the wolf would get a snack out of it. Apollo did not want to see the wolf on caffeine. So he ordered four dozen large drinks, gave them to the wolf, and dropped him off with Hermes. Hours later Apollo saw Hermes trying to run from a _very_ fast and obnoxiously barking black blur. Vengeance from Hermes came in the form of broccoli farts. Hermes gave the wolf as much broccoli as the wolf would eat and then some and sent him off to Apollo. The sun chariot still didn't smell the same several washes later. Especially since the wolf lost his broccoli all over the back seat. The sun even had a slight greenish tinge along one edge the next day baffling mortal scientists.

The pranks between the two steadily got worse and the wolf nearly got hurt or sick because of several. One time when Hermes was trying to get the wolf to drink a strange concoction of the messenger's creation it ducked into the nearest building, which just happened to be Hera's temple. Hermes followed the wolf in and was wandering the halls when he ran into the queen herself.

"Hermes," she said sternly. "What are you doing here?"

He gulped. "Um, oh uh, Apollo said that he hid a pair of my shoes in here."

"Then I'll be sure to inform you should I find them," she said in a tone that showed it wasn't up for debate. Hermes quickly nodded and ran out of her temple. "You can come out now," she said to no one in particular. The wolf's head poked out from a room further down the hall Hermes had been in. "Don't worry," Hera said gently as she turned to him. "He's gone now."

The wolf crept closer and nuzzled Hera's shoulder in thanks. The two grew closer after that and would sometimes go for walks together. An added bonus for the wolf was that if Hermes and Apollo were trying to use him for another prank, he could go hide with Hera. The queen of the gods was very good at controlling the two troublesome gods who could very easily have been the gods of mischief.

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Hades was visiting Olympus when the wolf crashed into him. The wolf looked frightened for a moment before he grabbed Hades by the hem of the cloak and threw him to the other side of the wolf's body in order to avoid a flash of color that was quickly followed by a massive splash of gravy. In the distance, Hades could hear Apollo gloating about how Hermes had missed. The wolf sat down and began licking the gravy off of its side before remembering the death god sprawled out beside him. He stopped wide-eyed and mid-lick and turned to Hades. The wolf stood up and looked to be bowing. Hades gave the smallest of smiles.

"How would you like to get away from the two of them?" he asked. The wolf stopped bowing and his ears pricked up and he almost looked hopeful. Hades gave a small chuckle and stood up and dusted himself off before flashing himself and the wolf to the underworld. When they arrived Demeter was railing at Persephone in the throne room. The wolf cocked its head to the side at the shouting Demeter and Hades rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Hades asked, interrupting Demeter.

"I was trying to convince my daughter to sneak out but that's obviously not happening now. And what is _that_ doing here?" she asked when she saw the wolf.

It was now the wolf's turn to roll his eyes. Demeter's eyes narrowed in return and she snapped her fingers which caused a massive pile of cereal to fall on the wolf, completely covering him. Hades started shouting at Demeter about how she was an insufferable woman and Demeter began shouting back about how Hades was just plain stupid. Persephone meanwhile watched at the wolf's head popped out of the pile of cereal and he licked his lips. He then disappeared back into the pile, but over the roar of the other two gods in the throne room she could hear the wolf crunching through the pile of cereal. She smiled as she watched the small hill of fiber and grains shrink. She watched at the wolf shook the excess cereal from his fur and then licked that off of the floor too before licking the cereal and gravy off of his side. He then proceeded to walk up to Demeter and nudge her with his nose. Demeter turned suddenly and saw the wolf. She looked to where he had been sitting a moment before and didn't see a single fleck of cereal anywhere.

She scowled and snapped her fingers and a pile of cereal twice the size if the previous one appeared in the corner of the throne room. She resumed shouting at Hades and the wolf turned and devoured the new pile of cereal. He came back to Demeter. She was about to yell at him to finish the cereal when she saw that it, just like the pervious, was gone. She looked shocked but when she saw the wolf's expectant face she conjured another pile of cereal half the size of the original and watched him eat it with gusto. He came back to her and sat down as if waiting for more. Hades was about to start shouting again but the wolf shot him a look that said: 'If you get between me and food it will be the last thing you will do.' Demeter gave a small smile and summoned a massive red bowl full of cereal in the corner of the throne room and watched as the wolf ate that too.

"It seems as though he likes cereal almost as much as I do," she said with the same small smile.

"Of course he does woman, do you not remember what happened when we first met him in the throne room. Hestia and Apollo said he ate anything that was even slightly edible, even bones."

"An, yes," she replied as she began petting the wolf's side. She then cringed and pulled her hand away from the wolf's side with a strange brown substance on her hand. "It this," she smelled it, "gravy?"

"Yes," Hades said with a small smile. "Poor beast still keeps getting caught up in Hermes and Apollo's prank battles, even if Hera protects him when she can. He kept me from getting hit by a balloon full of gravy, courtesy of Hermes."

"Perhaps he could stay with us for a time," Persephone suggested. "He could even play with Cerberus."

The wolf's head perked up at the mention of Cerberus. The gods were a little too distracted with the thought of the two massive dogs playing and didn't see the sudden movement. The wolf quietly and silently left the throne room through a side door and went bounding through the palace until he found the front gate. He then followed the line of ghosts to the massive three headed mastiff. When Cerberus caught sight of the wolf he gave three very loud barks and started bouncing around, narrowly missing the ghosts that quickly began to scatter. The wolf responded in kind and the ghosts seemed to recall deep within what was left of their mind what playing dogs looked like and knew to get out of the way. That or the prospect of getting crushed by a giant, bouncing, playful monster wasn't all that appealing. The two canines began running through the fields of Asphodel. These spirits figured that it probably best to avoid the wrestling dogs and so steered clear.

The two were wrestling when Hades suddenly flashed in. Four sets of eyes turned to him. He began laughing when he saw the wolf trapped beneath the three heads of Cerberus. The three headed hound looked at the single headed wolf and both got a strange look. Cerberus got off of the wolf and four heads turned towards the laughing Hades. Hades looked up just in time to see the wolf and hound lunging towards him. He tried to run, but the wolf managed to grab the hem of his robe when he landed after trying to pounce on Hades. It turned into a three way contest. The wolf and Cerberus were trying to keep a hold of Hades without letting the other one get him while Hades was trying to get away from the four mouths of snapping teeth. He would occasionally get free, but never had time to flash away before he was grabbed by one or the other of the canines.

Finally, after a good five minutes of 'Get Hades' the god of the underworld managed to get free from both long enough to flash away. He appeared in his chambers where he quickly shut and locked the door. He steadied his breathing and calmed his racing heart when he heard howling in the distance. His eyes snapped up and he created a few more locks in the door. He heard the sound of paws coming thundering down the corridor and hid himself in the back corner of the wardrobe. He heard when the door came crashing in and the sound of claws skidding across the stone floor. He listened to the sounds of a canine sniffing around for prey. He saw that he had left the wardrobe open ever so slightly. He reached forward to close it when he saw the wolf's nose come into view, right outside the door. He held perfectly still and watched the nose wriggle. He then watched as the wolf passed and heard the sounds of its claws clicking against the stone as it left the room. He waited another minute or so before creeping out of the wardrobe. He looked towards the door before sighting and getting all the way out of the wardrobe. He sighed and closed the door of the wardrobe, and saw the wolf staring at him. It had silently snuck back into the room and positioned itself so that it would be out of sight when Hades opened the door of the wardrobe.

Hades gulped before he was snatched up by the wolf. The wolf then ran out of the room, Hades' head barely missed the doorframe, and was running down the corridor when Demeter stepped into his path. The wolf came to what could have been a screeching halt right in front of her with Hades flopping around in his mouth. The goddess of agriculture nearly laughed at the sight, but she and Persephone had seen the earlier game that involved both the wolf and Cerberus, though she did smirk. She conjured a piece of ambrosia and the wolf immediately sat down bolt upright.

"Drop him," she said. The wolf's jaws seemed to fall open as he eye the piece of ambrosia. Hades dropped onto the floor face first and laid there groaning. "Good boy," she said handing the ambrosia to the wolf. "Now go play with Cerberus and leave Hades alone."

The wolf appeared to nod before running and barking back to the giant, three-headed hound. Hades sat up and stared at his smirking rescuer. He wasn't sure what to do. He stood up and faced her.

"Thank you Demeter," he said with a small bow, surprising the goddess.

She smiled in return. "Of course, after all, causing you harm is my job," she said as she walked away, still smiling.

Hades merely smiled at her as she walked away. Finally, after nearly eleven hours of play, the two canines had fallen asleep in the fields of Asphodel; Hades flashed the wolf to its room in Hestia's palace where he left the wolf and returned to his domain. Later on, whenever Cerberus got rambunctious, Hades would borrow the wolf from Olympus and return him after the two hounds had exhausted themselves.

* * *

From the moment Aphrodite had laid eyes on the wolf, she had loved him. In here eyes he was just a giant puppy. She was walking around one of the gardens of Olympus when she felt a warm, heavy breath on her arm. She jumped in surprise and saw that the wolf had been smelling her purse. He laughed and the wolf cocked its head to the side. She was surprised by his stealth, and, by now, everyone knew that the wolf was intelligent. Aphrodite herself had been witness to the wolf chasing down Hermes and saving Hades from an unintended gravy bath; but she now knew that his sense of smell rivaled his intelligence. He could find food anywhere. She opened her purse and pulled out a large piece of ambrosia. The wolf sat bolt upright and she could hear the grass moving underneath his wagging tail. She held out her hand and the wolf set his heavy paw on her arm. She handed him the piece of ambrosia. She turned to go and the wolf followed her.

"I don't have anymore," she said with a laugh. But the wolf didn't seemed to care. He followed her around the garden for a couple more hours. She talked to him even though she wasn't sure if he couldn't understand her. But when she told him about her internal debate over who was better for her, Ares and Hephaestus, the wolf seemed to get an idea. He nudged and led her to Hephaestus' palace. He then led her inside. She kept away from the grimy tools but looked at some of the pieces with interested. There were metal flowered and hair bows, bows and quivers of arrows, swords, daggers, knives, tridents, shields, spears, chain nets, and a whole slew of other weapons, tools, and other random objects and crafts.

Aphrodite followed the wolf deeper into the forge palace and saw Hephaestus standing over a project that his large hands worked with delicately.

"I didn't expect you to see you here, oh wolf, nor you, Aphrodite," said the old smithy looking up from his current project.

Aphrodite wasn't sure but she thought she saw his eyes twinkle when he saw her and she could feel love coming off of him. She looked at what he was working on and gasped. It was a beautiful and intricate necklace. He smiled at her reaction when she saw it.

"It was supposed to be a surprise for you," Hephaestus murmured, but Aphrodite could feel the love rolling off of him when he talked about her surprise.

"Can I watch you work on it?" Aphrodite asked looking him in the eyes.

Hephaestus looked taken aback. "Really?" He broke himself out of his shock. "I would be honored if you would."

For the rest of the afternoon the Aphrodite and the wolf watched as Hephaestus crafted the necklace. After he had finished it and set it aside to cool he offered to teach Aphrodite some of the basics of smithing. The love goddess looked apprehensive but the wolf nudged her forward. After a couple of hours and some basic lessons, the husband and wife were working on making a sword together. Hephaestus had his arms around Aphrodite, who was giggling, as they worked together to form and shape the sword. The love goddess even got over her fear of grime and had grease smeared in a few places on her face. The wolf just laid down and watch the couple work. If you looked closely enough, you could even see what looked like a smile on his face.

* * *

The following day Aphrodite walked out of her palace and saw the wolf asleep on her doorstep. She giggled and sat down beside him. She began petting his side to wake him up. The wolf blinked slowly as Apollo started his ride and Artemis finished hers. He yawned, his white teeth flashed in the morning light, and stretched. Aphrodite could have sworn that there was bubble wrap sprung his spine with how many times it popped, cracked, and creaked.

"So why are you here today?" she asked him when he sat beside her.

The wolf licked his lips and looked at her and then to his stomach which, as if on cue, growled and then looked back to the love goddess. Aphrodite started laughing. The wolf looked to be pouting slightly so she invited him inside. The wolf made his way straight to the kitchen even if it was his first time in the love goddess' palace. Aphrodite would have sworn then and there that the wolf had the best sense of smell in the world or a tracker attached to every morsel. She summoned an industrial size bag of cereal from Demeter's warehouse. Aphrodite and several others had heard what had transpired after Hades had flashed off with the wolf. Demeter had told anyone that would listen the story of the wolf and Cerberus playing and how the wolf liking cereal just as much as she did. The wolf's tail began wagging and Aphrodite just handed him the bag. She watched as the wolf took the bag of cereal to an open part of the floor and ripped it open and began eating the cereal. Aphrodite had a breakfast of fruit and a bagel and was done shortly after the wolf.

"Alright," said Aphrodite walking over to the wolf, "what did you want to do today?"

The wolf stood up and walked out of the palace with Aphrodite right beside him. He led her through the streets of Olympus until she saw a rather ugly red palace slowly getting closer. She smiled as she followed the wolf. Ares always made her feel special, loved, and wanted. But after her afternoon with Hephaestus, she was second guessing her relationship with the war god. The wolf led her right up to the front doors then nudged her forward. She lifted the old black knocker and banged it against the door. She waited for a whole minute before a very bedraggled Ares, who had probably just rolled out of bed, answered the door.

"Hey Baby," he said with a cocky smirk on his face. Aphrodite could feel waves of lust just rolling off of him, but no love. None at all. "You want to have a quickie this morning?" he asked, his voice dripping with lust. But absolutely no love. Aphrodite wanted to cry. How had she not seen it before?

"Um... no," she said feeling _very_ awkward. Ares though just looked confused. "I actually came to tell you that, I am done being unfaithful to Hephaestus with you," she said as confidently as she could.

But as she watched, Ares' face morphed into a scowl and turned red.

"What did the old tinkerer threaten you or something? Tell you that he's make you a chastity belt?" Ares scoffed.

"No," Aphrodite said taking a step back. "I just..." she struggled for words, "I just want to call it off."

"So I'm not good enough?" Ares snarled. Aphrodite took another step back and she realized that the wolf was no where to be seen. "We'll then, I can make it so that you and Hephaestus are the perfect match. You'll even have matching scars."

Ares pulled a long broad sword out from behind the door of his palace and stalked towards Aphrodite. As he stepped off of the front porch, out from underneath the overhang of the roof, something big and black jumped off the the roof of the ugly palace and landed on the war god's back knocking the breath out of him and shoving his face into the dirt. Aphrodite saw the wolf look up from its spot on Ares' back and pointed with its nose towards the rest of Olympus. Aphrodite turned and fled. The wolf got off of the groaning war god and stood confidently, waiting for him to rise. His grey-green eyes never left Ares.

The war god hauled himself to his feet and saw the wolf glaring at him. For some reason the glare was absolutely terrifying. Ares used his sword to help him stand up and faced the wolf, but wasn't able to look it in the eyes. The wolf had its hackles raised slightly making it look bigger than it was, its claws dug into the earth below, but its face was calm. It was waiting for Ares to make the first move. Said war god adjusted his grip on his sword before lunging at the wolf. The wolf was much faster than Ares had anticipated. It quickly dodged left before raking its claws across Ares' exposed side, Ichor now coating its paw. Ares snarled and the wolf got ready. Ares lunged at the wolf again, this time feinting at its legs, but swinging his sword up towards its head at the last second. The wolf ducked at impossible speeds and its jaws clamped down on Ares' sword arm knocking the weapon from his grip and used the war god's momentum to flip him over and bring him crashing to the ground. Ares screamed in pain. The wolf turned so that Ares was on his back with his arm still firmly trapped in between the wolf's incredibly sharp teeth. The wolf began walking and dragging Ares alongside itself.

The war-god screamed, cried, begged, and pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. The wolf kept walking, and, if anything, its grip only got tighter. Ares tried grabbing the ground to use it to get himself free, but that didn't help against the wolf's iron grip. The wolf dragged Ares through Olympus getting disbelieving stares. A few minor gods drew and summoned weapons and were about to charge the wolf who was eyeing them warily when Aphrodite came running into view with Hephaestus, who was holding a very large hammer, right behind her. Aphrodite stopped when she saw the feral look on the wolf's face and the arm that was dripping gold locked between his jaws. Hephaestus asked the wolf to let go of Ares but the wolf only put his ears back signaling that it was not an option. Aphrodite suggested that they go talk to Zeus. Ares tried to beg for the not to but the wolf silenced him with a quick jerk causing Ares to cry out in pain before falling silent.

The strange group walked through Olympus with only Ares's moans and stifled screams for ambiance. They arrived in the throne room where Hestia was seated. She smiled at the group until she saw the glaring wolf with his bloody catch. She had never seen him like that. She gave a nod to Hephaestus and Aphrodite before causing a bright ball the hearth's fire to fly up into the sky and explode in a bright circle of light over the city, summoning the council. They all arrived surprisingly quickly and, when they arrived, sat in their thrones and began doing whatever they did when Zeus called a council meeting. Hermes was on his phone, Apollo had his eyes closed and his headphones on, Dionysus was engrossed in a wine magazine. Ares was beginning to look pail but stayed silent not wanting to further anger the wolf that had a lock on his mangled arm. Zeus, Hera, and Artemis flashed in last and at the same time.

"Alright sister," Zeus said not even looking at Hestia. "What is it?"

"Ask the wolf," she simply stated.

"The wolf," Zeus started but stopped at soon as he saw a very angry wolf holding Ares by the arm. All of the other gods glanced up at the mention of the wolf then did a double take. Several leaned off of their thrones as though to get a better look at the mangled war god. "What is the meaning of this?!" Zeus shouted angrily.

The wolf growled, startling all of them, before quieting and looking to Aphrodite. The Olympians then looked at Aphrodite who gripped Hephaestus' hand and moved closer to him for comfort, which was surprising in and of itself. Aphrodite told how she had decided to call it off with Ares after she _finally_ discovered that he only had lust for her while Hephaestus truly loved her and how he got violent and threatened her. She told how the wolf tackled the war god to allow her to run. She then told how she had run straight to Hephaestus' palace and got him to come help but they found the wolf dragging Ares' still form through Olympus.

All of the gods stared at the wolf in shock, but none more so than Artemis. She realized that this wolf was truly intelligent and even hated men who preyed on women or tried to hurt them physically. She felt even worse about hurting him now. The rest of the gods just stared. No one was sure what to do until Artemis spoke up.

"Ares must be punished," she said. Everyone's eyes widened. Artemis was siding with the wolf.

"I agree," Hera, Demeter, and Hestia said at the same time. Once again the gods were speechless. For the three normally peaceful goddesses to speak up about this meant that it was not up for debate.

"What do you suggest?" Zeus asked, rather frightened. Never had the three goddesses seemed so bloodthirsty.

"I say we let Apollo heal Ares tonight, then tomorrow we let Ares loose on Olympus and let the wolf hunt him down and do whatever he wants, short of killing him though," said Hera in a perfectly even and absolutely chilling tone. Zeus seemed to be trying to scoot away from Hera for fear of getting in between her and the war god. When everyone looked shocked Hera explained. "Aphrodite has finally seen true love in her marriage and now Ares has tried to ruin it," she explained.

Several Olympians nodded and a vote was taken. It was decided twelve to none, Ares and Dionysus (*cough*laziness*cough*) didn't participate while Hades and Hestia, who had gotten their thrones on the Olympian council back after the Giantomachy, did. It was decided; Ares would be hunted by the wolf the following day at dawn. Apollo assigned for a minor god to ride his sun chariot the next day and went to get Ares from the wolf so that he could heal him. However, a problem presented itself rather quickly. The wolf refused to let go of Ares' arm. After Hera, Hestia and Demeter assured the wolf that he could do anything short of killing Ares the next day the wolf finally let go of the arm. The limb hit the marble with a sickening *splat* making many cringe. Several blanched when they saw the mangled arm that more resembled ground beef and quickly left, eager to what would happen the following day.

* * *

The following day the Olympians, bar Apollo, Artemis, and Ares assembled in the throne room. Artemis flashed in and nodded to her father before standing amongst the rest of the gods. Word had spread quickly about Ares and several minor gods were watching, but only as close as could be seen with binoculars or in some cases a telescope. After seeing the wolf's ferocity the previous day, the minor gods did not want to get between him and his prey. Speaking of the wolf, no had seen him yet. Hestia said that he hadn't been at her palace and they knew he wasn't at Apollo's since the god of medicine was treating Ares for the night. Speaking of the sun god he suddenly flashed in and fell to his knees then onto his hands out in front of him. He had a nice knot on the back of his head and a small cut on his arm. Artemis immediately rushed to her twin's aide. Apollo stammered something about Ares and a metal pan and a scalpel before the sun god passed out cold.

Artemis was livid, her mind instantly began listing the things that she was going to do to the war god, but then something stopped all of the Olympians' Ichor cold. A scream of pain and terror rang across Olympus. The gods all flashed to the source of the blood curdling sound, Artemis brought Apollo. They were all met with another scream of agony. In front of them was the back of Ares who was holding a sword. But he was bent over and the grip on his weapon was weak. They saw long claw marks that ran from his right shoulder to his left hip, Ichor was oozing out of it. The saw part of another claw mark on his neck that was bleeding even faster than the one on his back. Ares didn't look at all prepared for the thing he was facing though.

Across from Ares stood the wolf, both of his paws were covered in Ichor. The wolf's hackles were raised, teeth bared, claws digging into the ground, and completely focused on Ares. The wolf looked huge and was absolutely terrifying. Ares raised his sword as well as he could and stepped forward. The wolf also stepped forward, both within striking distance but seemingly waiting for the other. Ares swung towards the wolf. He had been faking his inability to properly hold a sword and swung it harder and faster then any of the gods had been expecting. The wolf, instead of jumping back, lunged forward. It tackled Ares and knocked his sword from his grip. The war god tried to crawl over to his sword but was stopped when the wolf stepped on his calf. Ares struggled and tried to get free. The wolf took another step forward so that his other front paw was on the war god's right shoulder.

Ares suddenly held very still as he watched the wolf's claws. The wolf reached down with its jaws and grabbed Ares by the neck. Ares' breath caught. The wolf then got off of Ares but still held onto his neck. Ares tried to punch the wolf as it was picking him up. In response the war god was flung around by his neck like a rag doll. He hit the ground several times during the thrashing sending dirt and rock flying and leaving gouges in the ground. The wolf stopped after a moment and looked down its snout at a very beaten Ares. Ares' eyes were threatening to close when the wolf looked around. It spotted a fountain only a hundred or so feet away and started walking towards it. The Olympians sat silently and watched.

The wolf arrived at the fountain and Ares' eyes were barely open. The wolf whipped its head around and, still keeping a hold of Ares' neck managed to get him into the ice cold fountain. The war god was suddenly very awake and splashed around as it tried to escape the wolf's death grip. The wolf finally dragged the sopping wet and spluttering war god out a minute later and held his gasping form. Ares looked like a rat that had been hit with a weed whacked and flung into a sewer. The wolf dropped Ares in the grass and walked over to the group of Olympians. He walked right up to Hephaestus and walked behind him and nudged him forward. The forge god followed, though rather unwillingly. He didn't want to be subjected to the wolf's rage. The pair arrived at the spot where Ares was sprawled and the wolf nodded to Hephaestus. The forge god was confused until the wolf gave Ares a new scratch on his left arm, though not anywhere near as bad as the others, before going a few feet away and sitting down. Hephaestus understood perfectly.

The god of forges summoned his war hammer. Ares gulped and tried to sit up. Hephaestus brandished the weapon before swinging it at full force hitting Ares in the chest and sending him flying. The wolf bounded after him and the Olympians watched as a cloud of dust and debris entered the sky where Ares crash landed. A minute later the wolf came into view dragging the war god back by his leg to w waiting Hephaestus. The wolf dropped Ares at Hephaestus' feet and sat down a short way away. Hephaestus bent down and saw Ares was still conscious.

"If you ever go after my wife again," Hephaestus whispered, "I will make you wish for Tartarus. Hell, I'll make you wish that you'd fade." With a final kick to the gut Hephaestus was finished with the war god.

Hephaestus walked back to the rest of the Olympians and nodded his thanks to the wolf and the wolf nodded in response. The wolf then turned and walked up to Aphrodite. The love goddess followed the wolf. Halfway there she got a strange, almost menacing, look on her face. She whispered some thing in the wolf's ear who, in turn, nodded and dashed off to another part of Olympus. Aphrodite slowly made her way over to Ares, smiling and humming along the way. But the look on her face was brimming with malicious intent. The wolf returned carrying something that the other gods couldn't see and dropped it into Aphrodite's hands. Aphrodite got a vicious smirk and turned to Ares. There was a sound of a knife sliding out of a sheath. The Olympians saw Aphrodite carrying a knife they had never seen before. Her smirk widened as she walked over to Ares.

"So you were mentioning scars yesterday Ares," she said as she looked at the knife. The knife was curved and tapered at the end and looked wicked sharp. The metal was silver with a light tinge of pink to it. The hilt was made out of soft leather with a metal, leather-wrapped guard. But the way the knife flashed in the sun it what caught Hephaestus' eye. He had never seen a knife like it.

"Well Ares," she said with a vicious glint in her eyes, "the day before I went to tell you it was over, I had a basic forgery lesson with my darling and loving husband Hephaestus. He taught me how to forge a sword. Now after I got home I created a makeshift forge in my palace. I also found some silver that I had stashed around and made this lovely knife after a few more hours of practicing and some sketches. But, do you seen its pink sheen? When I went looking for the metal, I stumbled across some of my more... malicious potions. A rather cruel sort of love potion. See, the potion that this knife was cured in makes it so that no one will fall in love with a person cut by it. Just one little cut," she said as she set the edge of the blade on Ares' chest, "will mean that the person cut will be unloved and scorned for, hm, about a decade. Doesn't seem like a long time does it? But all I have to do it cut you again," Aphrodite said as she slid the knife's edge across the war god's cheek leaving a shallow cut. Ares screamed. "Oops," Aphrodite said with mock sympathy, "I forgot to mention that it also hurts like a bitch," she snarled. She stood up and walked back to the appalled Olympians. "That felt pretty good," she said with a smile.

The Olympians were in shock. Never had they seen Aphrodite so vicious. Hephaestus stepped forward.

"I bet it did," he said with a smile and embraced his wife. "Anything else?" he asked the wolf.

The wolf looked thoughtful for a moment before looking at Artemis. Artemis looked frightened for a moment until she brushed against the wolf's mind. She saw one word. _Hunters_. She smiled and set Apollo on the ground and flashed away. Ares tried to stand up and the wolf watched him carefully. About two minutes later Artemis returned with the hunters, all of whom were armed. When they saw the wolf they pointed their weapons at him. The wolf rolled his eyes as Artemis ordered her hunters to lower their weapons. The hunters were wary but continued to watch the wolf. The wolf, when he saw he had their undivided attention, pointed at them with his nose then to where Ares was lying and growled. But he stopped mid-growl; Ares was no where to be seen. The hunters looked confused, but the wolf looked pissed. He put his nose in the air and smelled around for about two seconds before he raced off away from the group of Olympians and hunters. While he was gone, Artemis told the hunters what had transpired the previous day and what she thought the wolf wanted them to do. When the hunters found out that they were going to be hunting Ares they were elated. Even the war god's own daughter Phoebe was excited.

A sudden crash grabbed the Olympians' attention and ripped the hunters from their harm-inducing musings. Ares could be seen running right towards them full pelt. The hunters didn't understand until a black blur came flying from behind Ares and tackled him. The two slid for several feet before stopping just out of bow range. The hunters readied their bows and watched the wolf get off of Ares. The war god staggered to his feet, swaying every which way, before the wolf's maw snaked around and grabbed the war god by his neck and pulled him off his feet. Ares screamed again and didn't stop until the wolf stopped about ten yards away from the hunters. The wolf nodded to the hunters, who nodded back, and dropped Ares and ran beside the hunters. As Ares attempted to stand he was hit with a volley of arrows, all of which were aimed just below the belt. All found their mark. Ares howled in agony. The hunters laughed and high-fived. Apollo came to at that time.

"What'd I miss?" he asked groggily. The hunters stopped laughing and everyone present turned to look at him.

"Don't worry," Aphrodite said sitting in the grass beside him and throwing an arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner, "Hephaestus set up cameras yesterday and we caught everything on video. All of Olympus can watch it whenever they want. And we can blackmail that sorry-ass with it later, too," said with a nod and a scowl in Ares direction.

The Olympians turned and walked away chatting amongst themselves and left Ares where he was, but the hunters turned to stare at the wolf who was walking away from the Olympians. The hunters felt very awkward. The wolf had shared with them in punishing Ares even though they had hunted him for months. All of the hunters then turned and quickly followed the Olympians back to the throne room.

When they arrived they saw the Olympians in their thrones and watching the video that Hephaestus' cameras had caught. It was playing on mist screens at all sorts of angles all around the room. The hunters watched the wolf's initial treatment of Ares with fear clenching their hearts. If the wolf could do that to the war god, what was going to stop him com doing that to them? They sat at the base of Artemis' throne and waited. After the video of Ares' mauling was over Hermes suddenly sat up.

"We _need_ to show you something!" he said.

"Well, what is it?" Zeus asked.

"Hephaestus," Hermes said, "remember the other video of the wolf we got last week?"

A sly smile crept onto the forge god's face and Hestia got a small smile on hers.

"Why yes I do," he said. "Let me set it up."

"Do we have to?" Apollo asked in a quiet voice. "I mean, we've already seen what the wolf can do, right?"

Most of the Olympians looked confused but Hephaestus, Hermes, and Hestia all burst out laughing. This was only added to the confusion. Once Hephaestus had gotten control of himself he pulled a remote for the largest mist screen out and clicked a couple of buttons and another video showed up. While he was prepping the video Hestia explained what happened before hand about how she had given the wolf a command to go get Hermes and how the wolf had actually caught Hermes and brought him back. She then told about Apollo's following hysterics and Hermes' want for payback. Just as she finished the mist screen glowed and the fires around the throne room dimmed again. The Olympians watched the mud soaking of Apollo and were in stitches by the end of it. Several couldn't even breathe. Apollo started out bright red, but snickering at his face before laughing along with everyone else by the end.

Demeter then said that she and Persephone had caught another video of the wolf. A few noticed that Hades seemed to get the slightest bit paler. She summoned a camera and tossed it to Hephaestus who hooked it up to the screen and hit play. The gods were once again in stitches as the video started with Hades getting tackled and laughed all the more when Demeter told them that the wolf went and found Hades only a minute after he flashed into his palace in an attempt to escape.

The hunters at this point were terrified. The wolf had played keep-away against the largest hellhound in existence using the god of death for fun and was unscathed. The wolf even knew how to pull pranks. They were about to ask Artemis what they should do or if she could flash them back to camp when the wolf walked in. They slowly scooted behind Artemis' throne to avoid his attention. They peered around the corner and saw the wolf lay down next to Hestia's throne and listen to Hestia tell everyone how Hermes and Apollo had tried to prank her, but also about how the pranks back fired.

_We're screwed_, Phoebe thought to herself. And by the looks on the other hunters' faces, they were thinking the exact same thing. The wolf was intelligent and fierce. _We need to do something, anything_, Phoebe thought. Several hunters gasped pulling Phoebe from her internal panic. She saw that the wolf was standing and that he was staring at Artemis' throne, or rather at who was behind it. The wolf padded over, his claws clicking against the marble floor. He rounded Artemis' throne and the hunters went scurrying out from behind it. They pulled out their bows and aimed them at him but he seemed undeterred. The hunters kept backing away but looked to Artemis for suggestions but she just shrugged. The hunters were now backing around the hearth in the center of the throne room. The wolf suddenly lunged forward and Phoebe tripped over he own feet trying to get away and fell sprawling onto the floor. She turned to get up and saw the wolf towering over her. She was frozen as it bent towards her. She closed her eyes waiting for the bite that would kill her but felt something cold and wet touch her forehead and heard a voice in her mind.

_Why did you hunt me?_ a voice asked. She felt something heavy pressing against her mind, it didn't hurt but it wasn't going to be ignored. The voice itself was deep and powerful.

Phoebe opened her eyes and saw that the wolf's nose was touching her forehead. The wolf was speaking in her mind. Phoebe was already trying not to panic. She tried to edge away from the wolf but he growled and took a step forward so that he was standing over her. He put his nose back on the frightened hunter's forehead.

_I will ask you again; why did you hunt me_? the wolf asked. She could see his eyes and he was truly curious, but there was an underlying threat if she didn't answer honestly.

"We thought that you might be a threat to half bloods. We thought that you were a monster," she whispered.

_So you hunted me to protect half bloods and innocent mortals?_ the wolf asked.

"Yes," Phoebe again whispered not meeting his eyes.

_It makes sense,_ he said surprising her. _If I may offer you some advice, surround you prey before attacking, blocking off all its exits. If you are unable to do that, then put out some fresh meat of any sort and drizzle olive oil on it. It roughly mimics the scent of a demigod and will lure your prey out. Also be sure that you do not over estimate yourselves or underestimate your prey_. And with that he walked away and lay back down by Hestia's throne.

"Did you really have to scare them?" the goddess of the hearth asked with a small smile.

The wolf only shrugged its shoulders and put his head on his paws and closed his eyes. Phoebe was still sitting on the floor but the other hunters had regrouped at Artemis' throne. Phoebe quickly got up and dusted herself off and walked, nearly ran, back to Artemis' throne. The gods struck up conversations amongst themselves while the hunters practically mugged Phoebe.

"What did he want?" One hunter asked.

"What did he do?" asked another

"Are you hurt?"

She was pelted with questions from all sides until she put up her hands.

"He just want to know why we hunted him," Phoebe said.

"That's it?" a hunter asked.

"That's it."

"Wait," said Artemis leaning around her throne, "how did he ask you?"

"He got into my mind and asked me," Phoebe said with a shiver. "It didn't hurt, but it felt...weird."

"Hunh," Artemis said then leaned back on her throne. If the past weeks events were anything to go by, the wolf was going to make Olympus infinity more interesting.


End file.
